It takes a split second these days to create an image, and how many millions are recorded daily on mobile phones, possibly never to be looked at again? You can see it all happening in the palatial surroundings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, definitely one of those tick-off destinations on many travellers' bucket lists, where those in search of instant pictorial satisfaction throng the imposing statue-lined staircase for a selfie or pout for a photo in the café under the spectacular cupola. But we're not in Vienna for a quick fix, we're at the KHM to admire something more enduring in the shape of art produced almost 500 years ago by Rembrandt and his pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten that was intended to mislead your eyes into seeing the real in the unreal. Artistic deception is the story at the centre of Rembrandt--Hoogstraten: Colour and Illusion , one of the most engrossing and best-staged exhibitions we've seen this year. And, somewhat surprisingly, a show wi...
The Dark Ages weren't so very dark after all, and the people who inhabited the country that came to be known as England had deep cultural, religious and trading links with their neighbours across Britain and Europe. That's the message (and perhaps it's a bit of an anti-Brexit one in these troubled political times) from Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War at the British Library in London.
This is, it has to be said, quite an intense and amazingly comprehensive exhibition. The bulk of the 180 exhibits are manuscripts, so there's a lot of bending over, peering at fairly indecipherable texts in glass cases, and a certain amount of shuffling along to get a view. To be honest, only the most enthusiastic of visitors will not think that the curators might have trimmed it down a little. We were certainly flagging somewhat after half-way, and we definitely weren't the only ones.
But the highlights of this show are breathtaking. Books, manuscripts, jewellery and sculpture. Precious objects that have survived more than 1000 years to tell a story of a society that grew increasingly sophisticated as England became a unified country by the end of the 10th century.
The early cultural heartland of Anglo-Saxon England, in the middle of the 7th century, was Northumbria, and it's from there that some of the most stunning objects in this exhibition come, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, here with the start of the Gospel according to Matthew.
The book was written and illustrated probably by Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721. The incredible craftsmanship of the decoration blends Celtic and Anglo-Saxon elements with those from far away in the Mediterranean, showing how the monasteries along the North-East coast had become something of a cultural melting pot, not many decades after the reintroduction of Christianity to a largely pagan land.
In a section devoted to Northumbria, there are two books that will make you gasp. The St Cuthbert Gospel is the oldest European book with an intact original binding. The decorated red goatskin cover is still shiny, despite the fact that it dates from the early 8th century. It was found lying at the head of St Cuthbert, another Bishop of Lindisfarne, when his coffin was opened in Durham Cathedral in 1104. It looks as if might just have been picked up from a library shelf in some Victorian mansion.
On a totally different scale is the earliest complete Latin Bible, the Codex Amiatinus, one of three giant volumes made at Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery in the early 8th century. Abbot Ceolfrith set off for Rome in 716, taking this enormous piece of luggage with him, but died en route. It ended up in Florence and is now back in Britain for the first time in 1300 years.
There are a lot of record-holders among the manuscripts on show. We get to see the oldest surviving letter written on parchment from the Christian West, sent from Bishop Wealdhere of London to Archbishop Berhtwald of Canterbury in 704 or 705. It still displays the two vertical and three horizontal folds made to put it into a form suitable for delivery. Later on, there's the earliest letter written in English. It was sent in 920 from Ordlaf, a royal official in Wiltshire, to King Edward the Elder, setting out a complicated story of crime and punishment in connection with a land dispute.
The first object that catches your eye when you enter this show is an enigmatic one. Spong Man is the lid of an early 5th-century cremation urn found at Spong Hill in Norfolk, and a rare three-dimensional representation of a human, or humanoid, form from the Anglo-Saxon era. He appears to hold his head in his hands, but his expression is difficult to decipher.
Much greater sophistication is seen in the gold belt buckle from the Sutton Hoo ship burial site in the early 7th century. The decoration involving snakes, birds and long-limbed beasts is incredibly fine and intricate, while the buckle has an ingenious triple-lock mechanism.
The curators take us through the history of the Anglo-Saxons; as Northumbria declined, Mercia came to the fore. King Offa, builder of the dyke to keep out the Welsh, went so far as to mint gold dinars based on a design used by the Caliph of Baghdad. The minter, though, couldn't read Arabic, so the design was upside down.
From the heart of Mercia comes another rare sculpture: the Lichfield Angel, rediscovered under the city's cathedral in 2003, is a carved and originally painted panel almost certainly representing the Archangel Gabriel. Among all the manuscripts, it's an outstandingly different object.
In the 9th century, the balance of power shifted again, to Wessex, as the Vikings moved into the north and east. It was King Alfred who, unifying the Anglo-Saxons, agreed a peace treaty with the Danes in around 880 and who promoted a cultural revival, ordering the translation of Latin texts into English.
The Alfred Jewel, one of the most celebrated objects surviving from Anglo-Saxon England, may have been used as a pointer to follow one of these texts. At its centre is an enamelled figure below a piece of rock crystal; this is set into gold, bearing an inscription that translates into modern English as "Alfred ordered me to be made."
Alfred's grandson, Aethelstan, was the first ruler to be called King of the English, having regained control of Northumbria, and he's the first king we have a portrait of, emphasising his learning by presenting a book to the religious Community of St Cuthbert.
After the history, the exhibition takes on a tour through various themes, including language, science and the church, some of which is fascinating, some less so. Among the surprising objects: a portable sundial in silver, the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of a pocket watch; and the only map of the world surviving from the period, with Britain tucked into the bottom left-hand corner and Winchester among the few cities picked out. It's a representation of a very flat Earth, even as we learn that one of the most famous of Anglo-Saxon scholars, Bede, had explained that the world was spherical, like "a ball, being equally round in all directions."
The exhibition closes, more or less, with the Domesday Book, the great survey of England ordered by William the Conqueror to record the state and wealth of the country he had invaded in 1066 and, crucially, who owned what. It wasn't until censuses began in the 19th century that anyone attempted to gather data on such a scale.
Some fantastic and fascinating objects in this show, then. Those keenly interested in early medieval history will want to spend the whole day here; the average visitor is likely to find it a little overwhelming. Pace yourself and save some stamina for the highlights later on.
St Cuthbert Gospel. © Sam Lane Photography
Codex Amiatinus on loan from Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana to Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms at the British Library. © Sam Lane Photography
Lichfield Angel. © Lichfield Cathedral
Alfred Jewel. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
This is, it has to be said, quite an intense and amazingly comprehensive exhibition. The bulk of the 180 exhibits are manuscripts, so there's a lot of bending over, peering at fairly indecipherable texts in glass cases, and a certain amount of shuffling along to get a view. To be honest, only the most enthusiastic of visitors will not think that the curators might have trimmed it down a little. We were certainly flagging somewhat after half-way, and we definitely weren't the only ones.
But the highlights of this show are breathtaking. Books, manuscripts, jewellery and sculpture. Precious objects that have survived more than 1000 years to tell a story of a society that grew increasingly sophisticated as England became a unified country by the end of the 10th century.
The early cultural heartland of Anglo-Saxon England, in the middle of the 7th century, was Northumbria, and it's from there that some of the most stunning objects in this exhibition come, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, here with the start of the Gospel according to Matthew.
In a section devoted to Northumbria, there are two books that will make you gasp. The St Cuthbert Gospel is the oldest European book with an intact original binding. The decorated red goatskin cover is still shiny, despite the fact that it dates from the early 8th century. It was found lying at the head of St Cuthbert, another Bishop of Lindisfarne, when his coffin was opened in Durham Cathedral in 1104. It looks as if might just have been picked up from a library shelf in some Victorian mansion.
The first object that catches your eye when you enter this show is an enigmatic one. Spong Man is the lid of an early 5th-century cremation urn found at Spong Hill in Norfolk, and a rare three-dimensional representation of a human, or humanoid, form from the Anglo-Saxon era. He appears to hold his head in his hands, but his expression is difficult to decipher.
Much greater sophistication is seen in the gold belt buckle from the Sutton Hoo ship burial site in the early 7th century. The decoration involving snakes, birds and long-limbed beasts is incredibly fine and intricate, while the buckle has an ingenious triple-lock mechanism.
The curators take us through the history of the Anglo-Saxons; as Northumbria declined, Mercia came to the fore. King Offa, builder of the dyke to keep out the Welsh, went so far as to mint gold dinars based on a design used by the Caliph of Baghdad. The minter, though, couldn't read Arabic, so the design was upside down.
From the heart of Mercia comes another rare sculpture: the Lichfield Angel, rediscovered under the city's cathedral in 2003, is a carved and originally painted panel almost certainly representing the Archangel Gabriel. Among all the manuscripts, it's an outstandingly different object.
The Alfred Jewel, one of the most celebrated objects surviving from Anglo-Saxon England, may have been used as a pointer to follow one of these texts. At its centre is an enamelled figure below a piece of rock crystal; this is set into gold, bearing an inscription that translates into modern English as "Alfred ordered me to be made."
After the history, the exhibition takes on a tour through various themes, including language, science and the church, some of which is fascinating, some less so. Among the surprising objects: a portable sundial in silver, the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of a pocket watch; and the only map of the world surviving from the period, with Britain tucked into the bottom left-hand corner and Winchester among the few cities picked out. It's a representation of a very flat Earth, even as we learn that one of the most famous of Anglo-Saxon scholars, Bede, had explained that the world was spherical, like "a ball, being equally round in all directions."
The exhibition closes, more or less, with the Domesday Book, the great survey of England ordered by William the Conqueror to record the state and wealth of the country he had invaded in 1066 and, crucially, who owned what. It wasn't until censuses began in the 19th century that anyone attempted to gather data on such a scale.
Some fantastic and fascinating objects in this show, then. Those keenly interested in early medieval history will want to spend the whole day here; the average visitor is likely to find it a little overwhelming. Pace yourself and save some stamina for the highlights later on.
Practicalities
Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War is on at the British Library until February 19. Hours are slightly complicated: The exhibition opens at 0930 Monday to Saturday and 1100 on Sundays and closes at 1700 at the weekend, 2000 on Tuesdays and 1800 every other day. Full price-tickets are £16 and can be bought online here. The library is on Euston Road and is close to King's Cross, St Pancras, Euston and Euston Square rail and Underground stations.See more Anglo-Saxon treasures
This exhibition made us want to go back and readmire the beauty and skill of Anglo-Saxon metalwork on show in the British Museum and in Birmingham. The British Museum collection includes this remarkable helmet from Sutton Hoo. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery holds the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest assembly of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found.
Images
Lindisfarne Gospels f.27r. © British Library BoardSt Cuthbert Gospel. © Sam Lane Photography
Codex Amiatinus on loan from Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana to Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms at the British Library. © Sam Lane Photography
Lichfield Angel. © Lichfield Cathedral
Alfred Jewel. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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